Albert Hall

The first corn exchange in the town was designed by David Laing and was erected at the west end of the High Street in 1820. In the early 1840s, civic officials decided that the old corn exchange was inadequate and should be replaced by a new structure on an adjacent site to the east of the old building.{{efn|The old corn exchange was subsequently converted for use as the Essex and Suffolk Fire Office. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto the High Street. The central section of three bays, which was recessed, featured three round headed openings separated by Ionic order columns supporting a frieze, an entablature, a modillioned cornice and a parapet. The…